Chapter 34 The First Experiment Begins (Saving Character 2)
Xu Tongdao went to the county seat by boat.
Sitting in the cabin of the ebony wooden boat, watching the wooden boat cut through the waves on the river, and looking at the green vegetation and crops on both sides, he seemed to have returned to his childhood.
Because it was afternoon, there were not many passengers on the boat, and the boat was moving very fast. It arrived at the county dock in less than half an hour.
After landing, Comrade Xu followed the route in his memory and came to a vegetable market near the pier.
He came to the county town on this trip to buy some mutton and various condiments needed for grilling mutton skewers.
The reason why he came to the county town instead of going to the vegetable market in their town to buy it was because he estimated that the vegetable market in the town would not sell mutton in the afternoon.
Mutton is not cheap. Even if it is sold in the township vegetable market, it will probably only be sold for one morning. He even suspected that there would be no mutton for sale in the town's vegetable market in the morning.
So he simply came directly to the county seat.
There must be a place selling mutton in the afternoon in the county town, and there are also a wide range of condiments.
Facts also proved that his judgment was correct. There were indeed three vendors selling mutton in the vegetable market where he came in the afternoon. Tongdao Xu asked about the price. As expected, it was much more expensive than pork. A pound of mutton cost eight yuan.
He was not willing to buy too much. It was mainly for experimentation and there was no need to buy too much at once.
He only wanted a little more than a pound.
What he wants is sheep meat.
Goats don't have much fat on their bodies and have too much lean meat. Once roasted, the meat will become stale and difficult to chew. In contrast, sheep meat, which is slightly fatter, will turn into mutton fat when grilled.
Moisten the lean meat and roast it with alternating fat and lean meat. The meat will be much tenderer and have a tender, juicy and delicious taste.
After buying the mutton, he went to a dry goods store and bought some seasonings he wanted, as well as two bamboo sticks. Then he went to a place selling coal stoves and bought a basket of charcoal.
The smoke-free kind.
By the time he returned to Xujiacun by boat, it was dusk with smoke rising from the kitchen stoves.
My brother and sister are not at home, but the shrimp buns and other items are already at home. They must have gone to town to sell river shrimps.
Comrade Xu smiled, took the things he bought, and entered the kitchen to start making preparations.
First, he peeled the mutton, then cut it into small dices, and then cut some onions and ginger slices, which he had in his kitchen.
After these things are cut, they are pickled.
Use a plastic basin to mix the diced mutton with chopped onions and ginger slices, add salt and rice wine, mix well, and leave it there to marinate slowly.
After doing this, he turned around and went to find the small clay stove from home. He took the charcoal he just bought and went to the open space outside the kitchen to light a fire.
It was just his first time to try grilling skewers today, so he didn't pay too much attention to the tools. He just made do with a professional barbecue grill. He didn't want to use a professional barbecue grill for the time being, so he just used his own small clay oven.
There are quite a few of his small clay ovens in Xujia Village.
Each family makes it themselves.
The bottom of his mud stove was a broken enamel basin, stained with rust. He had picked it up by the river. After picking up the broken enamel basin, he went to the river to get some silt and mixed it with it.
Put the rice husk in, stir it vigorously, and use it as concrete. Use your hands to shape the shape of a small clay stove little by little on the broken enamel basin.
This thing is very durable. If it cracks a little one day, add some mud to make it thicker, and it will be a good clay stove again.
It took a little time to start the stove. Xu Tongdao squatted outside the kitchen and worked for half an hour before he successfully lit the charcoal in the clay stove.
The smoke from the newly lit charcoal was a bit strong, and he happened to be facing a gust of breeze. Unfortunately... he happened to be squatting downwind, so he was smoked to tears.
There were footsteps in the main room. Xu Tongdao thought it was his younger brother or sister who was back, so he didn't get up to look. However, a moment later, his mother Ge Xiaozhu's voice came from the back door of the main room.
"Huh? Xiaodao, what are you doing lighting the stove? Where did you... where did you get all this charcoal? What are you doing?"
(eh: sound ai)
Xu Tongdao turned around in shock, "Mom? I haven't gone to replace you yet, why are you back?"
Shouldn't she be on the polder to prevent floods at this time?
Ge Xiaozhu smiled, smoothed the hair around his ears, and tucked it behind his ears, "It hasn't rained much in the past two days. The water level in the river has dropped by more than one meter. It's not that dangerous anymore. The captain asked us to take turns to come back and wash it."
Take a shower and rest, it’s my turn today, I don’t have to go tonight, and you don’t have to go tonight either, haha.”
It can be seen that her mood is much more relaxed now that the task of flood prevention has been reduced.
Comrade Xu nodded, "Oh, this is a good thing!"
There was also a smile on his face.
Ge Xiaozhu: "By the way, I just asked you what you were doing, but you haven't said it yet? What are you doing when you turn on the stove?"
When she asked this question, she frowned again.
Before he finished speaking, Comrade Xu had no time to answer, there was another sound of footsteps in the hall, and the voice of his sister Ge Yuzhu, "Huh? Mom! Why are you back so early? Brother went to change so early today.
Are you there? I haven’t cooked yet! Did the eldest brother go there on an empty stomach?"
"Mom!" This was the voice of Xu Tonglu. This child was of few words, so when he saw his mother, he would only shout this word.
Ge Xiaozhu turned around and said with a smile: "The water level has dropped a lot. From today on, as long as the water level does not rise, just one person from our family will work the day shift every day. There is no need for anyone to go out at night."
After explaining, he paused and then said: "Your eldest brother is setting up the stove here! I don't know what he is doing. There is nothing in the house that needs to be stewed in the stove..."
"Ah? Brother is lighting the stove? Let me take a look!"
Ge Yuzhu sounded surprised and quickly ran to the back door. When she saw her elder brother Xu Tongdao was actually lighting the stove, her eyes became even more surprised.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Let's do a little experiment!"
Tongdao Xu smiled and replied, "By the way, Mom! Is Changsheng back tonight?"
"Changsheng? He... what did you ask him to do? Well, that's right! He's back too. This kid also has a hard life. He's been living and eating in the village recently, and there's no one in his family to help him come back and take a bath.
Everything, everything is sour..."
Ge Xiaozhu was chattering. Xu Tongdao thought for a while and said to his sister Ge Yuzhu: "Well, Yuzhu! You can help me run a run and inform Lin Zi and Changsheng. Ask them to come to our house in an hour and tell me.
There are good things for them to taste! Tell them to come over."
Ge Yuzhu's eyes were puzzled and confused. She opened her mouth and wanted to ask something. After thinking about it, she nodded with a smile and said, "Okay! I'll go now!"
With that said, she turned around and ran away.
She has been very obedient since she was a child.
"Xiaodao, what are you doing? What experiment did you just say?" Ge Xiaozhu couldn't help but ask.
"Well, let's grill some mutton skewers."
Tongdao Xu said, smiled, stood up, patted the charcoal ash on his hands, turned around and strode into the kitchen.
Ge Xiaozhu and Xu Tonglu were both curious and followed him quickly.